130 MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



hoed crop a crop that can have deep cultivation in or- 

 der to subdue it. 



First then, to know it, be on lookout for it. One can 

 not trust to one's men for this; they are not sufficient- 

 ly close observers. When you see a suspiciously persist- 

 ent grass in your cultivated field go at once and dig to 

 see what sort of root it has. The top of quack grass is 

 not unlike timothy at first ; the blades are narrower ; when 

 it heads the head is distinctly different but it will not 

 head maybe for a year or t\vo; do not wait to see that. 

 Dig down and see if it has that running underground 

 rootstock, about as large as a shoestring, with its sharp 

 point, shooting out after new space to fill. If you find 

 that get busy. Do not dread it, do not worry over it, but 

 above all do not procrastinate a day; get action of some 

 sort. Salt will not kill it unless enormous amounts are 

 used. Dig it out ; cut it off deep under the ground but as 

 far as you can; get the roots out where they will dry. 

 Then "do it now." Do not put it off; if you have only a 

 few patches of the grass today you may have a solid field 

 of it in a few years. 



It has been said that there is no more valuable pasture 

 grass for Nebraska and Dakota than this, and it may be 

 true; it is assuredly a sweet, nutritious grass and rather 

 heavy-yielding. I should sow brome grass though, for 

 there is no doubt as to our ability to get rid of that when 

 we wish. 



Nimblewill. This is often mistaken for quack grass. 

 It is a branching grass, with a peculiar odor. It has 

 sharp-jointed creeping rootstocks and also makes a bad 



